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Cost of Moving Heavy Equipment Locally

Aaron93

Member
Joined
Jul 17, 2018
Messages
24
Location
Georgia
Hi All,

I was wondering what the cost to move equipment locally is? Like within a 10 to 15 mile distance. Our excavators and other equipment is between 28,000 and 60,000 lbs.. Thanks for all of the responses!
 

Jonas302

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2015
Messages
1,197
Location
mn
Around $300 your prices are going to vary quite a bit by location though
 

CM1995

Administrator
Joined
Jan 21, 2007
Messages
13,250
Location
Alabama
Occupation
Running what I brung and taking what I win
Of course prices will vary around the country but I pay $300-400 to move a 55K hoe, 953 loader or D5 10-20 miles.
In my area it's cheaper for me to hire our moves out then own a lowboy.
 

jonno634

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 19, 2018
Messages
141
Location
Garfield, WA
Occupation
Farmer
Hi All,

I was wondering what the cost to move equipment locally is? Like within a 10 to 15 mile distance. Our excavators and other equipment is between 28,000 and 60,000 lbs.. Thanks for all of the responses!

It will also depend if width or height permits or pilot cars are required. I have a 30,000 lbs combine, that’s over 16 feet wide. So, it requires pilots and overwidth permit. I’d say here it’d be $250-350/hr with an hour minimum, and permits/pilots extra. But, I own a lowboy and move my own equipment.
 

suladas

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 30, 2016
Messages
1,731
Location
Canada
Wow $300-400? That's not worth doing yourself. I payed to move my 210 once, it was just under $800 would have been more but the driver shorted the time a bit to make it cheaper. I believe it was $180/hr and they charge from the moment they leave their shop until they return which took them about 5 hours.

A big thing might also be depending on location if they load it, or you have someone do it. A big factor for me is needing to be there anyway, as a lot of the work is cleaning up the road after due to being in residential areas, and you don't want to be paying nearly $200/hr for someone to push a broom.
 

Truck Shop

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2015
Messages
16,556
Location
WWW.
300 is not bad for a twenty mile move, Rate for a law enforcement tow on a class eight truck in Washington state is $396.00 an hour, which usually works out to two hours minimum.
 

DMiller

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2010
Messages
16,432
Location
Hermann, Missouri
Occupation
Cheap "old" Geezer
Shop here(Trucking and excavating) has a set figure $300 local moves(Under 30 miles) so long as not permit required, $3.50 a loaded mile above that distance.
 

LeakyBoot

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 3, 2007
Messages
100
Location
Missouri
My neighbor should read this and see what a bargain he gets. I move his 953C to and from his logging sites for $125. Just a neighbor thing I guess. Usually 10 miles or less.
 

suladas

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 30, 2016
Messages
1,731
Location
Canada
My neighbor should read this and see what a bargain he gets. I move his 953C to and from his logging sites for $125. Just a neighbor thing I guess. Usually 10 miles or less.

Wow that is cheap. I wouldn't even move something with my light trailer for that.

One thing I like about moving my own hoe is the short jobs. Last saturday did one, only took 2 hours with the hoe for $1,000, about 3.5 hours from leaving yard to back at yard. Don't get a lot of them, but couldn't do them if I had someone else move it.
 

milon

Member
Joined
Jul 10, 2023
Messages
11
Location
United States
Wow $300-400? That's not worth doing yourself. I payed to move my 210 once, it was just under $800 would have been more but the driver shorted the time a bit to make it cheaper. I believe it was $180/hr and they charge from the moment they leave their shop until they return which took them about 5 hours.

A big thing might also be depending on location if they long distance furniture removals, or you have someone do it. A big factor for me is needing to be there anyway, as a lot of the work is cleaning up the road after due to being in residential areas, and you don't want to be paying nearly $200/hr for someone to push a broom.
I want to have a 14,500lb John Deere 410 backhoe, 120 miles, from MA to NH. Is there a rough estimate of what I could expect to pay for transport costs? Do they do it by an amount per mile?
 

DMiller

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2010
Messages
16,432
Location
Hermann, Missouri
Occupation
Cheap "old" Geezer
Current price here for a Local or within 150 miles is $3 a loaded mile. Distance rides cost a sh&t ton more.
 

Oxbow

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 22, 2012
Messages
1,201
Location
Idaho
A couple of things to consider, if you move other's equipment and you do not have cargo insurance (different from insurance on equipment that you own or rent), you will be liable for all damage to the equipment if something happens. Also, one must have operating authority to haul for hire interstate, and often intrastate depending on the state.

We have all of that with a $500,000 cargo limit that we sometimes have to bump up temporarily (ever price the cost of a new D8 or 730) and do haul some for hire, though not often. I charge a minimum of $150/hour from shop to shop on shorter hauls. For longer distance I start at $5.00 per loaded mile, and $2.50 for empty. I have an annual OS/OW permit for our home state, but I have to pay by the mile for gross weights over 80K that goes up exponentionally to my max, which is 142K on the major routes. Under 116k costs me $.04 per mile, and the top weight is $.70 per mile, so all this has to be figured in if I am bidding a haul.

Like CM, on paper I would come out better to hire our hauling done, but the convenience of not having to shedule that, and downtime waiting for an availble transport are hard things to put on paper. Also, many of the places we work are hard to get in and out of. Asking someone else to to fight poor access usally comes with a cost after awhile.
 

CM1995

Administrator
Joined
Jan 21, 2007
Messages
13,250
Location
Alabama
Occupation
Running what I brung and taking what I win
A couple of things to consider, if you move other's equipment and you do not have cargo insurance (different from insurance on equipment that you own or rent), you will be liable for all damage to the equipment if something happens. Also, one must have operating authority to haul for hire interstate, and often intrastate depending on the state.

Good point Oxbow. Insurance is something you don't need until you don't have it.
 

DMiller

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2010
Messages
16,432
Location
Hermann, Missouri
Occupation
Cheap "old" Geezer
And hurts like hecky durn when is not there when need it.
New wrinkle of that here is currently the insurance game is sliding toward no fault payouts, any wreck regardless cause creator the damage is 20% on the person with damages. That just came to light speaking to our agent. Deductibles “Should” cover most of it or Uninsured motorist clauses but 20% will boost your rates each occurence.
 

Oxbow

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 22, 2012
Messages
1,201
Location
Idaho
The reason I bring that up:

On of the larger contractors in the area was hauling a new excavator for the dealership, but did not have cargo insurance.

I'm not sure what happened as the driver had hauled many excavators on that section of interstate, but he ended up clipping an overpass. As I heard the story, the contractor immediately purchased the excavator...
 
Last edited:

Truck Shop

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2015
Messages
16,556
Location
WWW.
Businesses trying to make a {profit center---new age lingo for creative business/banking}
out of hauling for hire and finding out the hard way---Trucking was better before de-regulation,
you had to apply for your permits and those permits could be contested by other trucking/freight
companies. Farmers pull that crap around here all the time and get caught much of the time.
Everyone trying to make the necessary evil parked in the drive way viable/not so evil.
 
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